How can I remove mouldy smell from my front loading washing machine, please?
By elizabeth from Gold Coast, Australia
Check to see if your washer has had a recall to fix the matter. Our washer had the same problem but through the manufacturer's recall, the problem was taken care of. (12/22/2009)
By Shirley
The store where we purchased our washer/dryer suggested we use http://smellywasher.com/ In fact they gave us a 12 oz jar of it to use. I used this just once following the instructions. I was disappointed because I could still smell the odor but after washing one load the odor went away.
The other suggestion was to use about a soup spoon of liquid 2X Ultra Tide. I had been using way too much. I also cut back on the fabric softener and so far after about 3 weeks the odor has not returned.
I do plan to use the Smelly Washer once a month or when/if the odor returns. That smell is pretty awful, isn't it?? Hope this helps some of you. (12/25/2009)
By Mary Lou
These machines are using too little water for rinsing. The exhaust is so concentrated that the soapy residues are accumulating on internal parts, under the seal, inside the exhaust pipe (just pUll the pipe and look inside! All you need to do is to put few rugs inside the drum and run baby wash (or sanitary) cycle with extra water option repeatedly without detergent.
Beside that, I run washer through rinse AND spin cycle with water plus and warm-warm setting over and over again. It is obvious now that the detergent build-up is pretty much dissolved. Smell is gone. Still, after every washing session, I send my empty LG through rinse and spin cycle with water plus and warm-warm setting and low spin. It purges all retained detergent from internal surfaces and exhaust, and keeps machine clean. Good luck! (12/29/2009)
By yuri
I too had the mildew smelly problems everyone is talking about. We've had the washer for around 2 years. The mildew small has been a problem almost from day 1. We've had Sears techs visit only to tell us try using the "sanitary" cycle with more bleach. Been there done that. Leave the front door open to dry out, done that. I finally broke down and called LG's 1-800 number for support.
I was surprised they were actually very nice and offered to give me an extension on my expired 1 year warranty. That way LG could dispatch a LG certified tech, not a Sears techie. The smell is gone but it's a combo of things that I believe fixed the stinky mildew smell. I think the thing that made the smell go 90% away was switching to powdered soap. There is also a drain tube in the front of my washer, behind that little trap door.
The LG tech drained the water front hat rubber hose, about 3 cups worth of very stinky water came out. It's been over a month and the smell is 95% gone. The only thing we have continued to do is use the powered soap, we have not drained the water since. In the future we will prob drain those hose once every month or so. Give it a try I hope this helps someone. Stinky musty smelling towels are good again. (01/09/2010)
By Bryan
OK, here's what I've found regarding stinky washers. We used to have a front load HE washer that smelled terrible. I think you know what I'm talking about. I would come home, walk into the laundry room and practically be knocked over by the smell. I'm a handy guy, so one day I decided to rip that washer apart and clean everything I could remove. Turns out that the inside hoses and containers you can not see were loaded with mildew.
I removed the hoses that the water runs through, cleaned them with mild detergent and a tooth brush and was disgusted with what was coming out. I'm talking about clumps of grimy, gooey slime that stunk to high heaven. I could only imagine what was in the areas I could not get to. I ended up soaking the hoses in a diluted bleach to clean them even better. I then removed the bottom agitator drum and cleaned everything thoroughly.
I can tell you one thing for sure. Nothing you run through your washer is going to get that slime off the inner parts. I don't care what things claim they can do. I had to scrub the heck out of those parts to get that crud off. After I put it all back together I ran bleach through a cycle. Ran oxy clean through another and bought some Affresh tablets to run through once more. It worked for a while, but the smell eventually returned.
The only thing I can think of is that the parts I could not get to were covered in slime. In short, what I'm saying is, nothing will work 100% to clean your washer. We ended up getting a new front load Samsung washer and I was determined to not let the same thing happen to this one. I did tons of research on smelly washers and the one constant I found was this.
The lack of water also allows something else. It does not flush away a lot of the residue that old washers would. That's probably why our parents washers never stunk. After much research, this is what I found. Only use powdered HE detergent in your washers. They do not contain animal fat and clean your clothes just as good. It has been over 6 months with our new washer and it smells just as clean as the day we purchased it. I would recommend switching to powered detergent after cleaning it as thoroughly as possible. I did read that many people had success with this.
Good luck with this. I hope this helps somebody because I truly feel your frustration. (02/06/2010)
By Tony
So, I've only owned my set for less than one year. My clothing and towels started to smell bad. I had the same problem and the LG tech had me do the same thing. Although, I have a laundry closet so leaving the door open is a pain and I was draining the little tube after I did the week's laundry, which became tedious.
I would like to know if you use the powdered detergent, does it just go in with the clothing directly? (02/09/2010)
By Connie
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